The Blade Runner 2099 Trailer, Explained: 5 Things Everyone Is Talking About
Blade Runner 2099 (2026) is a bold continuation of the classic sci-fi franchise, with the trailer released at San Diego Comic-Con 2026 teasing a very different story from the previous entries in the series. Blade Runner (1982) introduced a bleak future for humanity, bathed in neon light and filtered through the noir-inspired story of Rick Deckard investigating some runaway Replicants. The human-like robots are key to the series, with one of them—Ryan Gosling’s K—taking the spotlight in Blade Runner 2049 (2017).
The new series is taking some real deviations from the previous material, though, with the trailer released at SDCC 2026 setting up a world that has been radically changed thanks to an unseen conflict. It completely throws off the structure of power in this universe, setting the stage for a much more sci-fi-influenced take on the premise. Here are the biggest elements of Blade Runner 2099 that audiences are fascinated by ahead of its release later this year.
The Replicants Have Taken Over the World in ‘Blade Runner 2099’
One of the big reveals about Blade Runner 2099 that has fans locked into online debate is the status of the Earth fifty years after the events of Blade Runner 2049. In the half-century that passed between the film and the show, a war broke out between humans and replicants. It was one the humans ultimately lost, leaving the planet to the robotic successors of humanity. This sets up a radically different status quo for the show, wherein humans are the ones operating within the confines of replicant society instead of the other way around.
While some fans are intrigued by the concept, others fear that it’s moving the typically more philosophical franchise too closely to more standard sci-fi action tropes as seen in properties like The Terminator (1984). It’s a big tonal swing, but the trailer for Blade Runner 2099 does hint that the series is still focused on the emotional truths of society, even if it’s flipping the typical focus of the series on its head.
Hunter Schafer’s Cora Completely Flips the Franchise on Its Head
After starring in shows like Euphoria (2019) and films like Cuckoo (2024), Hunter Schafer’s biggest turn in the sci-fi genre is set to be at the heart of Blade Runner 2099. Cora is the human lead of the show, struggling to survive in a world that’s been completely restructured around replicant needs. Cora's desperation is one of the big focuses of the show.
The trailer hints at her efforts to avoid detection and capture by the Replicants. It's a complete reversal of the dynamic from the first film, where the replicants like Roy Batty are on the run from the humans like Deckard. This is a key element of the show as evidenced by a trailer that features Cora trying to avoid detection, hinting at a showcase of how resistance and survival work in a setting like the dystopian future of 2099.
Michelle Yeoh’s Reimagining of What “Blade Runner” Means
The other star of Blade Runner 2099 is the legendary Michelle Yeoh, who will be playing the replicant Olwen. The trailer sets up Olwen as an investigator, almost a replicant equivalent of Deckard’s role as a Blade Runner in the original film. This time, however, it’s the humans who are being hunted, with the trailer teasing out a new variation of the Voight-Kampff test from the previous two films.
Olwen was also confirmed to have a finite lifespan during the San Diego Comic-Con panel, hinting that she will also carry on one of the key elements of the replicants from the original film. It all sets up Olwen as an interesting foil to Deckard from the original film, giving the human characters (and audience) a taste of their own medicine.
The Story Is Moving Away From Deckard
One of the big questions going into the show was about the connections it has to the prior material—especially when it comes to Rick Deckard, the former Blade Runner played by Harrison Ford. The protagonist of Blade Runner and a major player in Blade Runner 2049, Deckard was a Blade Runner who ended up falling in love with the replicant Rachael and secretly had a child together. However, the trailer makes no mention of Deckard or his daughter Ana Stelline in the trailer.
This has frustrated some fans who wanted to see the fallout of her birth (which suggests that humans and replicants could crossbreed or that replicants can reproduce, depending on whether or not Deckard is a human or secretly a replicant) play out on a larger scale. However, it also ensures that Blade Runner 2099 can stand on its own two feet without being too self-referential. That also doesn’t mean that the fate of the Deckard family can’t be revealed in the show, even if they clearly aren’t the focus.
‘Blade Runner 2099’ Isn’t Necessarily a Sci-Fi Noir
One of the most intriguing aspects of the Blade Runner 2099 trailer is the way it moves away from the tropes of the previous two films. Both Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049 were largely grounded by the fusion of sci-fi and noir tropes, the sunlit desperation of Blade Runner 2099 feels much more attuned to pure sci-fi. This is reflected in the trailer’s few shots of unearthly environments, suggesting that the show will actually be going off-world.
This, coupled with the rise of the replicants, suggests that the show will be more firmly focused on humans trying to survive a desperate sci-fi setting instead of trying to solve a conspiracy or find a missing threat. It’s a big swing for Blade Runner as a franchise that has some fans concerned—but has just as many excited about what it could reveal about the state of the larger universe beyond the neon-filled setting of the previous movies.
